Northland women plot surprise ambush in NHL opener

The Northland women will be a surprise package for Auckland when the teams cross paths in the opening game of the 2010 National Hockey League tomorrow, in Whangarei.
Mother Nature interrupted Northland's plans to play Canterbury in a pre-tournament clash at North Harbour last Saturday, when the massive earthquake struck the southern province, forcing the Cantabrians to withdraw from the game.
Northland coach Alan Lints was obviously empathetic to those affected by the earthquake, but was disappointed his side missed out on the final hitout before the tournament.
"It was an important last chance to prepare for the NHL, and we were counting on it to give us some shape and order without giving too much away ... now we won't be giving anything away."
The women have had only one pre-tournament match against Auckland early last month, which they lost 2-1, but that was a selection game, Lints said.
"So the positive thing from this is Auckland will have no idea of what to expect from us."
On the flipside, Lints said he had some "creditable spies" who had been giving the coach the inside story on how Auckland were shaping up.
"They are beatable. Auckland will be fragile with their national players out ... They have a lot of talent like any major province but they can't get past the camaraderie and uniqueness a province like Northland has."
Northland are also without three Black Sticks - Anna Thorpe, Charlotte Harrison and Ella Gunson - who are in preparations for the Commonwealth Games - but with the likes of Black Stick Laura Douglas, and Black Sticks Development players Alana Millington and Nicky Howes will be competitive as they try to better last year's seventh placing.
Northland's two Australian guest players, Emma Cobin and Hollie Webster, arrived in New Zealand yesterday and joined the Northland women for the team's final training.
"We have had eight training sessions over the past two weeks and the team is looking good. The girls are eager, excited, nervous - they are showing all the signs of any good team going into a campaign," Lints said.
Rosvall ITM Northland Men also kick start their NHL campaign on home turf tomorrow against Auckland, who thrashed the northern side last month in a pre-tournament clash.
Coach Mike Delaney was looking forward to seeing how much his team had improved since their last encounter with Auckland.
"It is a tough game first up ... but the guys are really fired up for the game. Thomas Keogh has even produced a team song for us."
Last weekend, the men played two pre-tournament games, against North Harbour on Saturday and Midlands on Sunday, going down 5-1 in both games.
"At halftime against North Harbour we were only down by 2-1. We played really well in the first half but weren't there in the second. Against Midlands it was the other way around, so if we can put two halves together we'll be right," Delaney said.
Northland have four guest players - goal keep Greg Paynter, Australians Rob Green and Troy Sutherland and Duncan Pearce.
The women play at 12pm tomorrow, ahead of the men's match at 2pm.